BACK PAIN IN AUSTRALIAN MILITARY HELICOPTER PILOTS - A PRELIMINARY-STUDY

Background: Several studies have highlighted the problem of back pain among helicopter pilots, but few have controlled for potential confoun ding factors in their analyses, or sought to examine the effects of ba ck pain on operational readiness and flying performance. There have be en no previous studies of the prevalence of back pain among Australian military pilots. Methods: The prevalence, risk factors, and consequen ces of low back pain were assessed in a cross-sectional survey of 200 Australian military helicopter pilots by self-completion questionnaire . Results: Responses were received from 131 (66%) of available pilots. The overall prevalence of reported back pain was 64% (95% CI 56%-72%) , with a further 28% of pilots describing back discomfort while flying . More than half the pilots (55%) indicated that back pain had interfe red with their concentration while flying, with 16% reporting that the y had hurried flying missions because of pain. A minority of pilots (7 %) had refused to fly because of back problems. After adjusting for ag e, education, BMI, posture and numbers of hours flown, multiple logist ic regression modelling indicated that a prior history of back injury was the most significant predictor of back pain among rotary wing pilo ts (OR 2.63, 95% CI 1.11-6.23). Conclusions: We conclude that the prev alence of back pain in Australian military helicopter pilots is unacce ptably high and may be limiting operational readiness, pilot performan ce, flying safety, and pilot health. Urgent attention needs to be give n to improved ergonomic design in aircraft, and both back pain prevent ion and back injury rehabilitation programs.